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The Field Guide to ParentingChildren's BookstoreGreat Books to Read With and About the Children in Your Life
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Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers
Edited by Betsy Franco
Candlewick, 2008
Compiled from young poets of all kinds from all over the U.S.
and some from outside, Falling
Hard is, among other things,
honest, unfettered and free. This rare book of love poetry and
all its pangs, is by teenagers, about teenagers, for teenagers.
It is no surprise that the poets feel deeply, sometimes with
conflicting emotions; the depth is right there in the poems
themselves. Metaphor and literary reference show an
understanding of the art form and its connections to other areas
of life and art.
Consider this exerpt from "The Chronicles of Love" by Anthony
Hill:
Love is when the heart ruptures into an abyss
of indefinite definitions of perplex emotion.
Caricatures of one's self sharpen like a pencil
that sketches the faces of many....
Is there are universal raffle?
Perhaps names are shaken in the Dipper among the stars;
all the things that one would denounce in others are forgiven
with a soft forbearance candidly expressed through the heart.
Some will make you cry, like the beautiful "The Pond is Dry Now," some are startling, and some just make you want to hold the poet close, but all will touch your heart and soul, and make you feel priviledged to have been allowed in this tender place.
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B  irds on a Wire: A Renga 'round Town
by J.
Patrick Lewis and Paul B. Janeczko,
Gary Lippincott
(Illustrator) Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, 2008 Not just one, but TWO, favorite, accomplished children's poets team up to create a renga (ancient Japanese form of collaborative poetry). Each short, haiku-like verse links to the last but can take you in a new direction, which creates the challenge for the next poet to create the connection again, and so on for as long as you like. 'Round town starts with a dog in a "blizzard of apple blossoms" which leads to a creek, and to a florist in boots, until you have travelled the length and breadth of the city by nightfall and the "velveteen hush of evening." The large sized pages seem just right for the vast landscapes and detailed city scenes; warm tones add to the sense of friendliness. A marvelous example of the magic a few words, carefully chosen and arranged, can create in poetry, and a book you can read to young children and then they can read again themselves a few years hence. |
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Poetry
Speaks to Children edited
by Elise Paschen, illustrated by Judy Love, Wendy Rasmussen, and
Paula Zingrade Wendlund, Sourcebooks, 2005.
From Robert Frost to Rita Dove, this magnificent collection of
poems includes works from some of the greatest poets ever living.
And since poetry must be
heard aloud and not simply read, the CD included with the book
allows readers to hear many of the actual voices of the poets in
the book. To be able to hear Langston Hughes, for example
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Thanks a
Million
by Nikki
Grimes, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera, Greenwillow, 2005 |
 With poems like "Dainty Doily Dill Weed," "Pea Pod Chant," and "The Pumpkins Revenge" need I say more? The imaginative and inventive poems bring the garden to life in never before heard ways. For example, in "Nursery Rhyme," the King of the Bees lives happily with his Queen in the Rhubarb Forest, that is, until it's time to make pie. Enchanting. |
 Yellow
Elephant: A Bright Bestiary by Julie Larios, illustrated by Julie Paschkis, Harcourt, 2006 A purple puppy, a blue turtle, an orange giraffe? Why not! Short and easy poems next to bright acrylic paintings that threaten to steal the show. All in all, a bestiary liberated by imagination. |
Houghton Mifflin, 2006 If you like wacky, amusing, fanciful poems paired with imaginative and inspired acrylic paintings (and I do), then this is the poetry collection for you! No where else can you find out about a crystal bowling ball, a soggy circus, and a TV taxi. This book rates right up there next to Jack Prelutsky. |
 Please
Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Kyle
M. Stone |
 Selected by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Meilo So, Knopf, 2005 A series of poems on a theme (dogs, rain, birthdays) are given followed by "Poemstart,"a beginning of a new poem with suggestions to help you finish it. A great idea to make poetry more accessible to young people. Some of our best poets are included such as Ogden Nash and Douglas Florian, but the book leaves you with the idea that the best poems are yet to come from the readers themselves! |
 Beyond
the Great Mountains: A Visual Poem about China by Ed YoungChronicle, 2005 An innovative book format allows you to see the whole poem at once, and then as you read each line, you may lift the page to find the gift of a beautiful illustration and Chinese characters. The author's note at the end helps you see the poem in a whole new way inviting readers to find something new in each re-reading. An excellent book experience in itself, but teachers could use this to teach diversity and the understanding of a great culture. |
A
Kick in the Head: An
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 by Kenyon Cox, illustrated by Wallace Edwards, Kids Can Press, 2005 Inspired by the still-fresh, wonderful rhyming verse describing such beasts as the hippopotamustang written around 100 years ago, illustrator extraordinaire Wallace Edwards has again (Alphabeasts) created a fanciful feast in pictures that has the potential for hours of mixed-up fun. Within each painting, the creature described in poem is featured, but if readers look closely, they will see the Professor himself as well as other mixed beasts in each picture. An excellent and extraordinary what-if book. |
 Oh,
NO! Where are My Pants? and Other Disasters; Poems
edited by Lee
Bennett Hopkins (a master of children's poetry), illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch
(HarperCollins) holds a funny or touching poem for every bad thing that can
happen to a kid: getting laughed at in school, being lonely at camp, your
best friend moving away, and my favorite, losing your swimming trunks in the
water--heartwarming for anyone of us who needs to know we are not alone in
our disasters. |
 Family PoemsHere's a great book of poems from some of the world's best poets about mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, and even pets. Though not all poems are humorous and some wisely look at the realities of today's families, no one will be able to resist "Grandad's Lost His Glasses" by Lindsay MacRae: Grandad's lost his glasses / He thinks they're by his bed / We're far to mean to tell him That they're perched upon his head. |
Edited by Pat Mora, illustrated by Paula S. Barragan Lee & Low, bilingual paperback edition--2004 Bright, patterned illustrations do justice to the richness of language in each poem that pays tribute to mom by talented Latino poets. Pat Mora says: "Poems, like music, carry us to the deep feelings we hide inside." Nothing could be more true of this wonderful collection of poetry.
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The Smoke Detector Why is is that |
 Blue
Bowl Down: An Appalachian Rhymeby C.M. Millen, illustrated by Holly Meade Candlewick, 2004 A lullaby tells of the evening ritual of making bread in a blue bowl, which rises over night as baby sleeps. In the morning, the bread is baked; baby helps clean the bowl and enjoy the bread. The lyrical quality of the words is beautiful. The large watercolors and collages of baby and mom at work and rest are joyful and a pleasure to behold. Nicely done! |
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